1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to producing final copy printed text, and more specifically to a system for positioning final copy printed text, upon a first printing, at a specified location on a line in a format determined by input keying. 2. Description of the Prior Art
Representative of the closest known prior art are the IBM "Selectric" Composer, the IBM Magnetic Tape "Selectric" Composer, the IBM Magnetic Card "Executive" Typewriter, the IBM Mag Card II Typewriter, and IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletins Vol. 9, No. 11, April 1967, pages 1575- 1577; Vol. 12, No. 11, April 1970, page 1808; Vol. 12, No. 12, May 1970, pages 2262 and 2263; Vol. 12, No. 12, May 1970, pages 2254 and 2255; Vol. 13, No. 2, July 1970, page 405; Vol. 13, No. 8, January 1971, pages 2390 and 2391; Vol. 14, No. 5, October 1971, pages 1560 and 1561; Vol. 14, No. 8, January 1972, page 2437; Vol. 15, No. 12, May 1973, page 3856; and Vol. 16, No. 2, July 1973, pages 391-394. Considering "centering" on the IBM "Selectric" Composer, an operator has to determine the center point of the centered material and position the carrier at this point. Thereafter a sliding centering scale must be manipulated to line up the position of the carrier with the zero point on the centering scale. The next operator action is to depress the no-print key, and then key the text. Upon completion of keying the text, the location of a position indicator relative to the centering scale is noted. Thereafter, the carrier is backspaced to a corresponding location to the left of zero on the centering scale. That is, if upon conpleting the typing of text the position indicator is positioned at the 16 point on the centering scale, the carrier is backspaced to the 16 point to the left of zero on the scale. Then the no-print key is released and the material is keyed again with printing occurring during keying. FNT *Registered Trademarks, International Business Machines Corporation
With the IBM Magnetic Tape "Selectric" Composer (MT/SC), there are no means for recording on the tape through the composer printer and keyboard. The tape must be prepared on an IBM Magnetic Tape "Selectric" Typewriter (MT/ST) and coded for use on the MT/SC. Then a tape program will cause control of format during the reading of the codes recorded by the MT/ST on the tape for accomplishing such operations as flush left, flush right and center. In this case, tape manipulation and tape program selection are required.
The IBM Magnetic Card "Executive" Typewriter requires, for centering a heading, tabbing to the desired center point, recording a required backspace code, and keying the text making up the heading. The suggested operator procedure is to record a required backspace code for every two characters in the heading.
An operator using the IBM Mag Card II Typewriter must determine the center point for centered material. Then the carrier is positioned at the center point through tabbing, backspacing or spacing. With the carrier located at the center point of the material to be centered, a coded character is keyed for entering a center mode and this results in a no-print mode. The centered material or text is then keyed and this keying causes backspacing. Upon the keying of a carrier return, printout occurs, followed by a carrier return. The carrier has already been repositioned to the starting point of the centered material, at the time the carrier return is keyed, due to the backspacing which occurs during no-print.
The first IBM TDB mentioned above discloses a recording technique wherein control information is recorded along with the text. Basic information is stored separately and recalled on playout to control format. The second IBM TDB referred to is also applicable to a recording technique for later control of format on playout. The third publication requires a first-pass printing during which escapement values are calculated. The fourth publication relates to allotting the excess spaces to break codes which are the equivalent of expand spaces or variable spaces. The fifth publication deals with a readily adaptable keying sequence. The sixth IBM TDB relates to the storing of control codes along with text for later control of format. The seventh publication discloses a use of variable space codes in conjunction with the required setting of tabulation positions. The eighth publication deals with determining the right margin through keying a carrier return. The ninth TDB referred to above discloses the defining of desired tabulation positions, among a number of set positions, through keying. The tenth TDB also requires locating the centering point for centered material.
From the prior art cited above, it is appreciated that the control of format, upon a first printing, requires excessive effort on the part of the operator. This is particularly the case when proportional spacing and/or centering are involved. As pointed out in describing the above IBM systems, mental calculations in terms of keying and determining the center point and/or scale manipulation are required. In the publications, format control programs, first pass printings, center point determinations and tabulation settings are required for controlling a final copy format.